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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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Japan's military intercepted Chinese warships in waters near Taiwan, as Tokyo's latest defense white paper warned of tensions between Beijing and the self-ruled island.
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force detected and monitored two Chinese naval vessels sailing in waters northwest of the Senkaku Islands—known as the Diaoyu Islands in Beijing and Diaoyutai in Taipei—on July 11, the Japanese Defense Ministry's Joint Staff Office said in a press release on Wednesday.
The Chinese ships are identified by their hull numbers as Type 052C destroyer Jinan and Type 054A frigate Yiyang. They are armed with a naval gun, air defense as well as anti-ship missiles and torpedo launchers.
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Both of the Chinese vessels have been assigned to the Eastern Theater Command Navy, which has established headquarters in Ningbo, a city in China's eastern province of Zhejiang, facing the East China Sea.
The Senkaku Islands are an uninhabited group of islands located in the East China Sea and claimed by Japan, China, and Taiwan. They are currently under the Japanese control and administration.
China has deployed its coast guard fleet in waters around the disputed islands in a continuous manner. The United States, a security treaty ally of Japan, has reaffirmed that it would defend Japan should its ally come under attack in the Senkakus.
The Chinese warships headed southward and transited between Taiwan and Yonaguni, the westernmost island of Japan. After entering waters south of Japan's Yaeyama Islands and Miyako Islands, they returned to the East China Sea via the Miyako Strait on Tuesday, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry.
The Miyako Strait is a major waterway for China to send its naval vessels beyond the so-called first island chain, a series of islands connecting Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Japan Self-Defense Forces monitor Chinese military aircraft and vessels that operate near its airspace and waters on a regular basis. Encounters between the two sides in the air and on the sea have been regular in recent years.
Newsweek has contacted China's Defense Ministry for comment by email.
The Japanese government released a defense white paper on July 12. It criticized China's large-scale military drills around Taiwan, which Beijing views as a breakaway province, as a "demonstration" of its invasion strategy.
The white paper also mentioned the war in Ukraine, urging the international community not to tolerate the Russian aggression, otherwise "it may give the wrong impression that unilateral changes in the status quo by force are allowed in other regions, including Asia."
Japan has been opposing any attempts to change the status quo unilaterally and forcefully in the contested East China and South China seas, where China has maritime disputes with Japan and the Philippines respectively.
China said the Japanese defense white paper was "full of clichés," that it was deceiving the Japanese public and creating excuses for Japan's military expansion, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said on Thursday.
"Taiwan is China's Taiwan, and the Taiwan issue brooks no interference by external forces," said Zhang, who also stressed that the Diaoyu Islands "have been Chinese territory since ancient times."
"We strongly deplore and resolutely oppose this, and have lodged solemn representations with the Japanese side," he added.
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